Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!






I want to start by saying that my wish for all of you is that 2013 is a wonderful year filled with much joy, prosperity and of course vibrant health.  Let’s all do what we can to make 2013 our best year ever. 

How Y’all Been?

Sorry that I disappeared on you it wasn’t a conscious decision I just got crazy busy with life and had no time to write.  Every time I thought about blogging something came up and it didn’t happen.  Basically I didn’t make time to it and for that I apologize.   Simply put the summer came and I started going to the boat everyday and suddenly I realized that I wasn’t blogging. Instead I was hanging out at the boat.



As you probably guessed I tend to be a bit of a social butterfly so when I am at the marina I am busy talking to everyone and sharing the nutrition love.  J  You aren’t surprised to hear that, I know. 

However I am back now and have committed to myself that I am going to get back to making a difference in the world. I will explain this more as time goes on.  A few things have happened very recently that made me realize that I needed to get back to regular blogging.  It is important that I share what I know and encourage people to make improvements to their lifestyles.  I want to do whatever I can to improve the health of the world.

Spreading the Veggie Love

Speaking of nutrition love I am happy to report I have a few new “veg recruits” one of which I can talk about.  One of our friends from the marina has gone essentially vegan (in other words he still has Ian’s tomato bisque every few months but is otherwise vegan) and he dropped 50 pounds in 8 months and is now in the low 160s and without adding exercise to his life.  You gotta love results like that don’t you?  Not only that but his doctor was concerned about his diet so he ran a battery of blood tests and everything came back excellent.  Go plants!  I get excited every time I see results like this.

I have also been “teaching” vegan cooking and sharing whole wheat vegan pizza and other delights with people at the marina.  One thing I have discovered is the best way to get people interested in vegan food is to have them try it and realize how delicious it is.  My pizza almonds have also been well received as has the raw curried almond salad in lettuce wraps.  Gee, people are starting to realize this whole healthy vegan thing isn’t such a hardship.  ;-)  LOL



Bell’s Palsy

As if we don’t have enough to worry about earlier this year we got to learn firsthand about Bell’s palsy.  When half of Dan’s face started to droop we immediately thought stroke and flew (almost literally I was driving) to the ER at Johns Hopkins. Fortunately it was not a stroke only Bell’s Palsy.  However that was still frightening. I will write try to write a post about the details soon so you know the difference between Bell’s palsy and stroke if it happens to you or someone you love. I have learned that if you have had either chicken pox or a cold sore you are at risk for Bell’s Palsy. So basically we are all at risk.  Great!  Not!

Boat Time

Having the boat 15 minutes away has been entirely too tempting for both Dan and I.  It has literally become our second home.  From March until October I was at the boat from mid-day (or earlier) through late evening.  I would spend the day talking nutrition (either with clients or for free) and then spend the evening with Dan and friends.   With all this boat time now I know that I can easily cook on the boat which is wonderful.  I also found that I can walk to two grocery stores from the boat (gotta stay active you know) and there is a farmers’ market close by which is open on Saturday.  Nice right?




The fur children now have their first sailing vacation under their belts (or in their case harnesses).  We spent a week sailing to Norfolk with the cats.  The first day we had wicked wind of 25 knots and the cats all got seasick.  I thought we were going to turn around but the wind the rest of the time was better and all was good. It turns out our little ones are becoming real “nauti-cats”.  Who knew that 11 year old felines could be so adaptable?  Well not me, I was shocked at how well they did.  Now we know we can take the fur kids with us there will be more boat trips next year, maybe every weekend.  ;-)






Doctor’s Visits

Our family doctor continues to be extremely happy with our health every time we see him.  His only complaint is that he can’t see any of his other patients doing what we had done.  If I have anything to say about it our MD will suddenly realize one day he is vegan and not know what happened.   He has asked me for recipes so his conversion isn’t out of the realm of possibilities.  ;-)

One thing I have discovered is the best way to turn people on to veganism is to be a good example.  As Ghandi said “be the change you want to see in the world.”  He was definitely on to something.  So many of our friends are now eating either vegan or having a lot more vegan meals.  Any time you add veggies to your life it is a good thing for your health and the health of the planet.

Signing out

Today I wanted to post something quickly and get my feet wet again.  I will explain more as I go along. The bottom line is that I saw something last week at dinner that smacked me in the face with the fact that I needed to get back to blogging.   A few days later I heard from my girlfriend that her cousin who was battling cancer had died.  These two events were the push I needed to get back to blogging. I will tell you more about them in a future post. I can’t promise you that I will post everyday because I don’t know where I will get the time.  However I can commit to posting at least three times a week for a while and that I will try to get back to daily posts even if they are short.

I would like to know what you would like me to write about.  Any ideas that you have would be greatly appreciated.  For example do you enjoy reading about:  our vegan life, how to navigate this meat and cheese world as a health conscious vegan, nutrition facts, health or recipes.   Maybe you want me to mix it all up.  Please let me know what you are most interested in so I know what to write.

Talk to you again soon.  I will try to post a little something tomorrow.  Hope you are all doing well and can’t wait to hear from you.  Ciao for now!  ;-)

28 comments:

  1. So glad to see you again, Ali! I've been insanely busy myself, with my oldest daughter married this past Saturday and my youngest son and husband and I beginning to pack for a seven-month sabbatical in Nashville (Vanderbilt for hubby's toxicology research). We leave next Tuesday! Yikes! I'll look forward to your posts to keep coming along!

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    1. Happy New Year Cindy! Wow you have been busy. A sabbatical in Nashville sounds like fun. Lots of new places to explore. Enjoy your adventure.

      Ali

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  2. So glad you're back!

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    1. Thanks Meghan it is good to be back. I hope you have a wonderful New Year. :-)

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  3. Great shots on the boat! It's nice to hear from you and I am definitely looking forward to your nutrition talk and more. Happy New Year!

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    1. Hey Nadine!

      Happy New Year to you too! I am so glad you enjoyed the photos. Can you believe those brave little fuzzies? Dan and I were shocked by how well they did. There is definitely more boat time in their futures? LOL

      Thanks for letting me know that you are putting in a vote for nutrition. That is my personal favorite topic to write about but not everyone loves it as much as you and I do.

      thanks for stopping by and hope to hear from you soon,
      Ali

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  4. the cats look cool with their harnesses on:) Happy New Year to you all, sorry to hear about the Bell's Palsy, that must have been such a shock! Fingers crossed it will improve x

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    1. Hi Christine,

      Happy New Year to you too! :-)

      The cats don't like their harnesses but they got used to them in a few hours. Still they were very happy to get the off once we got home.

      The Bell's Palsy has completely resolved. It was gone within about a month. They gave Dan steroids and an antiviral and he was good to go. There were tons of tests afterwards, a spinal tap and other fun things to rule out other causes. In the end it was just run of mill Bell's. Thank you for your concern. We were lucky on this medical issue. Wish they were all this simple.

      Hope the new year started at well for you and will continue to be amazing,
      Ali

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  5. Happy New Year! So glad to see you back! I have missed seeing you on here. My kids normally don't look at blogs, but I know they will love your kitty pictures!

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    1. Happy New Year Betsy,

      Thank you it is nice to be back. I hope you kids like the cat photos. My little fur children were quite the site on the boat weren't they? Who knew cats would adapt to sailing? LOL

      thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful 2013,
      Ali

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  6. Welcome back!
    I've been reading your blog for a while and this is my first time commenting.
    I am continually work at making changes to achieve a healthier lifestyle and appreciate the information on nutrition as well. That being said, I enjoy all aspects of your blog. Just keep writing! Happy new Year!

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    1. Happy New Year Laurie,

      First I want to sincerely thank you for commenting. I know I used to read blogs and not comment so I appreciate you taking the time to write. Thank you very much. Second congratulations on working to make healthy changes. That is wonderful. Dan and I used to be hedonists to the max so I know if we can do it so can you. :-) If there is anything that I can do to help please don't hesitate to ask for assistance. I also want to thank you for letting me know that you appreciate nutrition information.

      I hope 2013 exceeds your expectations,
      Ali

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  7. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY I was stalking your blog last night and posted on facebook--your ears must have been burning. I'M SO HAPPY to see you back. To be honest, when I first started reading a couple years ago, I was more obsessed with loosing weight and not really being healthy about it. My whole health transformation has been a journey staring in the spring of '10. That brought me to: Over the summer we finally made the true switch to being completely vegan. We're a family of 4-parents, and two boys 5 & 10. Every day, I find stronger conviction as I continue to educate myself. The kids still have cheese and sometimes meat MAYBE once a month at a friends house. For example, if they go for a spend the night I tell the other mom that it is their choice but I prefer they don't eat cheese so please have other choices available. I think I approached the whole thing a little wonky but this is a work in progress. My older son can be talked to and reasoned with and made to understand. But the little one seems to be pretty confused and "why is it ok to have meat at friends house"? its funny because THAT friend brings his own cooler when he comes over because he doesn't love my "weird" nut milks or beans that I sneak into everything.... most of my girlfriends are supportive of my parenting choices and food choices for my family so I don't think it will be a big deal when I start packing my kids their own coolers to go on play dates. It is very important for me to have your blog--I deeply value it. I consider it THE foundation to my vegan roots. I'm reading The China Study right now.

    I'm just so glad to see you back xoxo
    Jenn

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    1. Happy New Year Jenn,

      Loved your comment about stalking my blog last night that cracked me up. Thank you it is good to be back. It is also wonderful to be hearing from so many people who missed me. You guys are great and really make me feel loved. You made my day when you said you started looking to lose weight and ended up wanting to be healthy. There isn't anything you could have said that would have touched me more. Thank you so much for sharing that. :-)

      I hope you have a happy and healthy 2013 and look forward to talking with you more, ((big hugs))
      Ali

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  8. ALSO: I'm VERY interested in nutrition and science so consider that for your future posts. I've always been so interested when you explain about brazil nuts + oranges on the same plate :-) stuff like that.

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    1. Jenn,

      Yay another vote for nutrition. Love that since it is my favorite topic. Thanks for letting me know. You really did make my day earlier I wasn't joking. As I was writing my reply and Dan asked me why I had such a big grin on my face, so of course I read him your first comment. :-) I love helping people improve their health. It is very important to me to help others avoid what we have to deal with.

      talk with you again soon I hope,
      Ali

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  9. Bentornata!!

    So good to have you back!!! I miss you! I cannot wait for your next post. I vote the mix:)

    Simona

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  10. Hello Simona!

    It is so nice to hear from my Italian girlfriend. How is life in the dessert southwest treating you? Happy New Year to you. :-) Thank you it is good to be back. (For those of you who aren't Italian Bentornata is welcome back.)

    Thank you for stopping by and letting me know what you would like to read. I greatly appreciate the feedback. I have a post scheduled to go up at midnight eastern time so you don't have to wait long.

    I miss our chats I hope to hear from you again soon ((hugs to you)),
    Ali

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  11. So glad to see that you're back!! I'm looking forward to seeing some new recipes! (as if the book I created from your previous ones isn't enough!) ;-)

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    1. Hello Traci,

      Happy New Year to you and I hope that 2013 exceeds your expectations. Thank you it is good to be back especially with such a warm welcome. A girl could get used to this. ;-) Do you have any specific recipe requests? If you do let me know.

      Thank you for taking the time to comment, I greatly appreciate it. Hope to hear from you again soon.

      Ali

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  12. Happy new year! I miss our chats too! Life is good in the southwest, even though now it's really cold.

    I convinced a friend to start Dr. Furhman's six weeks program. I am really excited and determined. Your blog is going to be a great help:)

    I almost forgot! Your cats are adorable! We have a new member in our family a chocolate pitbull we adopted in June, she is super cute:)

    Ciao

    Simona

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    1. Simona,

      Cold in the southwest? That is crazy. Is it normally cold there this time of year? BTW I can get into my veganepicurean@gmail.com email account again (I got hacked and couldn't get in for a while) so please shoot me an email anytime you want to catch up.

      Good for you paying it forward and leading the way for someone else. I hope your friend has great success on Dr. Fuhrman's program as we both know she will if she sticks to it. If you have any specific requests of what you would like to see me write about for your friend please let me know.

      Thanks for the fur kids compliment. They aren't well behaved but we adore them. Yay for a recipe pitbull. What is her name?

      buonasera,
      Ali

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    2. Yay! I will write back once I have had a chance to wake up so that my response is coherent. ;-)

      Ali

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  13. Welcome back! I'm thrilled you've rejoined to blogging world. And even more so that your blog break wasn't motivated by something negative. I had images of tragedy dancing through my mind and am obviously glad that I was wrong. Looking forward to recipes and nutritional advice. I always found you genuinely inspiring.

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    1. Happy New Year Shannon, :-)

      Thank you very much for the warm welcome back. Nothing terribly negative was happening here just your run of the mill negative stuff like the Bell's Palsy. I am so sorry to hear you had images of tragedy dancing through your head. Next time I need a break I will write something so that you don't worry. :-( Mea culpa......

      I appreciate you letting me know what you want me to write about. Knowing what people will find useful and/or interesting helps me a lot. :-)

      Wishing you are wonderful 2013 and I hope to hear from you again soon,
      Ali

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  14. Yay, so glad you're back! I've missed reading your posts so much. I love pretty much everything you write about, especially your vegan lifestyle, health resources, and -- of course -- recipes.

    (Also, I apologize if my comment tried to come through four times. It acted like it wasn't working, so I kept trying.)

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    1. Hello Brigid,

      You are too kind but I do appreciate your wonderful words. Thank you for making me smile and for letting me know what you would like to read. It helps me to have some idea of what people are interested in. :-)

      No worries about the multiple posts they are very easy to edit on this end as you know.

      I hope all the things you desire happen this year,
      Ali

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